Am I way off base?

[Bill_McC]

I haven't done any research on this idea as it just popped into my head. The wait for visas seems to be, in some cases, excessive and I have no experience with this, yet. So I was thinking, after you've talked, met, and decided that marriage is what you both want; why not have her come to the US on a visitors visa and marry her right then and there. Would they deport her while you're waiting for the proper paper work after you've tied the knot? Is this illegal in any way? Would it slow down the process or maybe speed it up?

I'm really just thinking out loud and looking for the experienced to poke some holes in this idea.

Bill

[bcc_1_2]

K1 or K3 are your options. You can marry her in the phils and wait or wait and then marry her in the United States. Be ready to wait up to 8 or 9 months. 

We all have this question starting out. You won't like the answer... few of us do.

She's got as good of a chance as winning powerball as getting a tourist visa. And even then you'd be commiting fraud. K1 or K3.

[Capstone]

Like bcc_1_2 has already indicated, the chances of a single Filipina receiving a tourist visa for the US is pretty slim. But if she could get a tourist visa there would be no legal issues with you two getting married in the US as long as she then returns home before her visa stay expires. The problem is that if she entered the US on a tourist visa with the intent of her staying and adjusting her status to a legal resident after getting married then that would constitute visa fraud. The burden would be on her during AOS to prove that she did not enter the US with the intent to get married and then subsequently adjust her status. 

If things were that simple then everyone would circumvent the process instead of bothering to petition for a K-1 or CR-1.

[robert angel]

Does anyone know if it is easier or even possible for most Filipinas to be granted a tourist visa to say, Canada OR Mexico?

I would think in some situations, that would be something some guys would consider as a way to spend some time together to see about compatibility.

I think also that if a woman from the Philippines has a lot of liquid resources--meaning MONEY, and/or deeds for land she owns that she can temporarily surrender when traveling to the USA, that she can come over here. Not certain, but it seems likely to me, as the govt. can assume she's likely to return rather than forfeiting those assets....

[jm21-2]

Canada/Mexico might work but then you're talking about a potentially expensive plane ticket for both of you. Probably significantly more expensive than visiting her.

I'm thinking about Canada because I could take her out sailing on my boat and my parents could meet her. And it's just a few miles north of here so not a big deal.

[braziliangirl]

a single Filipina receiving a tourist visa for the US is pretty slim

I am single, not rich and don't own any land, but I've never had any problem getting a visa or entering the US. All the times I passed through the immigration, I was granted six months stay, even though I said I was just staying for two weeks or less...

Would you guys say that it is harder for a Filipina to get a tourist visa than for a Mexican, Colombian or Brazilian, for example?

I am asking that because I always read about all the hassle you guys have to go through to get a K-1 visa, and this is just to spend time and get to know each other better. I bet some of the guys don't feel the sparks or see lots of red flags, but stay with the girl anyway just because of all the trouble they went to.

Of course, you guys thought about that option before and it didn't work. I just want to understand why...

[Bill_McC]

K1 or K3 are your options. You can marry her in the phils and wait or wait and then marry her in the United States. Be ready to wait up to 8 or 9 months. 

We all have this question starting out. You won't like the answer... few of us do.

She's got as good of a chance as winning powerball as getting a tourist visa. And even then you'd be commiting fraud. K1 or K3.

So there are real legal issues, thank you. Why is it so difficult for a Filipina to get a tourist visa? Is it the required financial status, or is it something else?

Bill

[jm21-2]

My GF applied for a tourist visa from Taiwan and got denied. She had a good job, a work visa to Australia, and a decent amount of money saved up, but they denied her and told her it was because she had an American boyfriend. I imagine if I wasn't in the picture she could probably get a tourist visa.

[throwawaydad]

I am single, not rich and don't own any land, but I've never had any problem getting a visa or entering the US. All the times I passed through the immigration, I was granted six months stay, even though I said I was just staying for two weeks or less...

Would you guys say that it is harder for a Filipina to get a tourist visa than for a Mexican, Colombian or Brazilian, for example?

I am asking that because I always read about all the hassle you guys have to go through to get a K-1 visa, and this is just to spend time and get to know each other better. I bet some of the guys don't feel the sparks or see lots of red flags, but stay with the girl anyway just because of all the trouble they went to.

Of course, you guys thought about that option before and it didn't work. I just want to understand why...

Trust me when I tell you that most Mexicans don't bother with the Tourist Visa hassle.

/sarcasm

[Capstone]

I am single, not rich and don't own any land, but I've never had any problem getting a visa or entering the US. All the times I passed through the immigration, I was granted six months stay, even though I said I was just staying for two weeks or less...

Would you guys say that it is harder for a Filipina to get a tourist visa than for a Mexican, Colombian or Brazilian, for example?

Hi braziliangirl,

Yes the chances of receiving a tourist visa to the US greatly depends upon which country that person is from. Generally speaking, the poorer the country is then the harder it is to get a tourist visa. That of course is not the only factor but can be a huge contributing factor as is the past visa fraud & overstay rates of a country.

My Chinese sister-in-law applied for and received a US tourist visa not too long ago and during her pre-interview she had to demonstrate very strong ties to China which would compel her to return and not overstay her visa. She had to give bank statements, proof that she had a husband & son in China, owned real estate & a business. If she had been single I am not sure that she would have been approved though. During that process I attempted to ascertain the approval rates of tourist visas for China and the best that I could come up with is the following chart from the US State Department which shows the refusal rates of all B visas (tourist & business visas) for 2009 by country. You can't really use it to tell what the refusal rate is for a tourist visa for a particular country because it lumps all tourist & business visas together but you can use it to get an idea of which countries an applicant may hold a better chance of receiving a US tourist visa from. The chart actually shows Brazil as having an extremely low refusal rate in comparison with most others while the Philippines has a much higher refusal rate.

 http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/FY09.pdf

[Capstone]

My GF applied for a tourist visa from Taiwan and got denied. She had a good job, a work visa to Australia, and a decent amount of money saved up, but they denied her and told her it was because she had an American boyfriend. I imagine if I wasn't in the picture she could probably get a tourist visa.

Yea that is just ridiculous. I have seen several posts on visajourney from women who are from the UK & Canada saying that they were refused entry into the US after letting it be known to immigration officials that the purpose of their trip was to visit a boyfriend or fiancé.

[braziliangirl]

Yea that is just ridiculous. I have seen several posts on visajourney from women who are from the UK & Canada saying that they were refused entry into the US after letting it be known to immigration officials that the purpose of their trip was to visit a boyfriend or fiancé.

I hear the same happens here too. So the key is to never tell such thing.

Even a friend of mine had to struggle in her interview because her sister tried to get a visa a year before and told she was going to visit her boyfriend. I could never imagine they would dig up this kind of info. But once she showed her passport, with many short trips (Europe and SA) and, the most important, her paycheck, the visa was issued.

On my last interview, I heard a guy being yelled something like "Is this is you salary? You don't have enough money to travel to the USA. Your visa is denied.".

I guess the main things, beside your nationality are to prove you have:
1. Strong reasons to go back home; and
2. Enough money to fund your trip.

Anything else?

[bcc_1_2]

Why is it so difficult for a Filipina to get a tourist visa? Is it the required financial status, or is it something else?

Your brain is still looking for that loophole (been there). When you get to the point you want to bring your wife/fiance/gf to the USA from the phils (honduras,etc) the why becomes irrelevant. k1 or k3. Plan on it being a pain the butt, costing $$, and taking some time (8 or 9 months).

[Capstone]

The wait for visas seems to be, in some cases, excessive and I have no experience with this, yet.

Bill,

Try and look at the wait time for a fiancée/spouse visa as being a real positive and not a negative. It took right around 9 months for my now wife to get her K-1 after I filed my petition and I am actually very thankful for that wait. It gave me the opportunity to make several more trips to see her which not only gave us a chance to get to know one another better but also strengthened our case as far as having a bona-fide relationship by the time that she had her visa interview. I feel very fortunate to have had that extra time to get to meet with and get to know her family better as well - and I know that it made them a lot more comfortable with the idea of having their daughter move off to a foreign country after they got to know me better. 

[Henry]

As far as I am concerned, the more illegal women that come in, the better. Illegal Brasiletas especially.

I am very curious though how Brazil girl got her visa. Brazilgirl, you must have a very good job down there!


I think the rates of approval also depend on how many people from each country who were previously granted visas have decided to overstay and become illegal.

[robert angel]

Re:

>>I am single, not rich and don't own any land,<<

That's OK, Braziliangirl--we're still sweet on you!

Come on up this way any time!

[Bob_S]

I am single, not rich and don't own any land, but I've never had any problem getting a visa or entering the US. All the times I passed through the immigration, I was granted six months stay, even though I said I was just staying for two weeks or less...
Would you guys say that it is harder for a Filipina to get a tourist visa than for a Mexican, Colombian or Brazilian, for example?

To add to what Cap said, it is much easier for a Brazilian to get a visa than for a Filipino.  Document here shows for 2006,
4,569 Philippine citizens issued B2 tourist visas, while 157,924 Brazilians were issued tourist visas.
Contrast that to the immigrant population data, over 60,000 immigrants came to the U.S. in 2009 from the Phils, while only 14,701 immigrants arrived from Brazil.  The numbers speak for themselves.  Brazilians are simply less eager to come to and stay in America.  So as a group, they can generally be trusted more to respect the time limits of a visitor visa.

[braziliangirl]

I am very curious though how Brazil girl got her visa. Brazilgirl, you must have a very good job down there!

Hi Henry,

The first time I got a visa, I was 14yo and interview wasn't needed, we just sent a copy of my dad's pay check (nothing really impressive) and a handwritten letter by me telling how much I loved school and I was going to come back to finish it. It was short time after the first WTC bombing, so it just lasted for three months.

The second time was in 2008. My job is very good because I love what I do, but in terms of money... I work for a nonprofit, so you can figure I'm not anywhere near rich. Yes, the headquarter is in the USA and I guess that helped me, because my interview consisted in "Do you work for XXX? That's great! I will give you a B1/B2 visa, so you don't have to come back to get a business visa." I had to travel 3h by plane just to say "Yes. Thank you." The B1/B2 visas issued at that time lasted for five years. Someone told me the ones issued now last for 10 years.

My friends that don't work for American nonprofits didn't have any problem getting student/tourist visas as well, except for that one with the sister I told before. They were all also single and not rich, but they all also had means to prove they could fund the trip.

See? I told you it is better for you to find a Brazilian one. Even the visa is easier to get    

Peace!

[z_k_g]

See? I told you it is better for you to find a Brazilian one. Even the visa is easier to get    
Peace!

I think its your eyes braziliangirl!!

Zulu

[braziliangirl]

Re:

>>I am single, not rich and don't own any land,<<

That's OK, Braziliangirl--we're still sweet on you!

Come on up this way any time!

Hahaha, thanks!

I really have to go and take some classes with Mrs. Angel on how to be great 

[william3rd]

So there are real legal issues, thank you. Why is it so difficult for a Filipina to get a tourist visa? Is it the required financial status, or is it something else?

Bill

Because they dont go home!!! They marry, they overstay, they look for husbands, they work illegally, they seek employers. They do all the things that they claim that they will not do in the visa application. Since the propensity is not to temprarily visit the US for a defined time period and then leave on time, the folks at the consulate restrict visa issuance. And still dont have the bar raised high enough because the same thing keeps happening. . . .

[Dave H]

It happens at all levels...


World News
SENIOR PHILIPPINE DIPLOMAT's SLAVERY CHARGES
The Philippines Ambassador to UN accused under human rights and RICO laws

   
Former Philippine Ambassador to the UN Lauro Liboon Baja Jr, his wife, daughter and the family travel agency are charged with slavery and racketeering in a New York Court

2008-07-06 11:30:06 - Ex-diplomat Lauro Liboon Baja Jr and wife Norma Castro Baja accused of slavery in USA

New York

High profile case may crucify socialite family

One the Philippines' most senior diplomats, his wife and daughter could face jail in the US

A senior and widely respected diplomat and his family are at the center of allegations in a court action over slavery, racketeering, brutality and falsifying information to fraudulently obtain a Philippine diplomatic passport.

Charges have been filed in a New York court which if proved place a former senior diplomat and his family at the center of human rights violations, racketeering and criminal behavior both in the Philippines and the US.

Lauro Liboon Baja Jr who ended his long diplomatic career last year as Philippines ambassador to the UN, his high profile socialite wife Norma Castro Baja and their daughter Maria Elizabeth Baja Facundo along with the family owned travel agency which has offices in Manila and New York have been charged with the following offenses against a Filipino nurse Marichu Suarez Baoanan:

THE CHARGES

Defendants knowingly and willfully committed the following predicate 'racketeering activity' offenses under 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1)(B):

a. Peonage in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1581;

b. Involuntary servitude in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1584;

c. Forced labor in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1589;

d. Trafficking in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1590;

e. Unlawful conduct with respect to documents in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1592;

and

f. Extortion in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951.

Defendants knowingly and willfully committed the following predicate 'racketeering activity' offenses under 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1)(A):

a. Larceny by extortion in violation of N.Y. Penal Law § 155.40; and

b. Kidnapping in violation of N.Y. Penal Law §§ 135.20 and 135.25.

Essentially, they are alleged to have "hired" a nurse Marichu Baoanan by fraud, stolen money from her by illegal charges, treated her as a slave in their posh New York diplomatic residence, falsified documents for the obtaining of a diplomatic passport along with other charges relating to labor laws in New York.

Racketeering charges under the "RICO" statutes have also been filed which are possibly the most serious charges in the US.

These allegations are that the nurse, Marichu Suarez Baoanan, wished to obtain employment in the US as a nurse and agreed to pay the Bajas' travel firm Labaire International Travel.

There was a ruse by Norma Castro Baja to get Baoanan's normal passport and change it to a diplomatic passport thereby facilitating ease of entry through US customs and immigration.

To add insult to injury, Baoanan was being charged 250,000 Pesos for the privelege of being a slave. She flew to New York where she was then subjected to a 3 month ordeal of brutality and exploitation at the hands of the Baja family.

This ordeal it is alleged lasted for a three month period.

During this ordeal she was paid a minimal $200 for the entire period, made to eat left-over food and kept a prisoner while being brutally treated.

This complaint has been filed by Marichu Suarez Baoanan through lawyers Aaron Mendelsohn of the high profile firm Troutman Sanders and Ivy O. Suriyopas of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).

Mendelsohn is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney while Suriyopas has a record of championing human rights cases involving exploitation of Asians and American Asians.

There is also something that is not mentioned in the charges as filed in New York, but specifically concern Philippine laws pertaining to illegal recruitment. It will be interesting to see if the Baja's or their travel firm Labaire International Travel hold a license from the POEA to recruit workers for employment overseas. There is also the matter of a travel firm being involved in recruitment which is illegal under Philippine law.
{Balita Pinoy - Philippine News & Analysis)
http://www.pr-inside.com/the-philippines-ambassador-to-un-accused-r687897.htm

[piglett]

boy these sound like really nice people.


piglett

[robert angel]

Re:

>>boy these sound like really nice people.<<

Nice enough to be drawn and quartered!--Man is one of few species that eats it's own....

[Dave H]

Yes...I am always amazed that Fem-Nazi groups don't seem to consider Fil on Fil or even Asian on Fil crimes an issue...only foreigners marrying Filipinas, whether they are healthy relationships or not. Filipina "Comfort Women" of the Japanese doesn't seem an important enough issue to be one of GABRIELA Network's "CAMPAIGNS"...only:
 
"U.S.-Wide Vigil for Immediate Release of GABNET 3"

"The Purple Rose Campaign"
   2. Trafficking in the United States
     From the 1980s on, around 5,000 Filipinas are married to American men annually through the so-called mail-order bride agencies or the international match-making agencies. These agencies comprise a multi-million dollar business.


Wife battery and control are usual features of these marriages, where the divorce rate is estimated at 70%.


The fiance/husband/male client usually believes he has been taken advantaged of when the Filipina tries to divorce or leave him. His retaliation runs the gamut of mild (maxing out credit cards and making sure the court divides the debt between him and his to-be-ex-wife) to killing her, as what happened in a Seattle courtroom.


Several young Filipinas were married to psychopaths and/or serial killers. Estelita Villa Reeves in Texas disappeared and the police discovered that her husband had married two others--a Latina and a Vietnamese--before her, both died mysteriously.


An estimated 25,000 Filipinas have been brough into the US to work at brothel houses, bars, nightclubs and illegal sex farms in various states and in the vicinity of US military bases and camps.


Some 25 sex tour operators in the US each send 15-25 men each month to the Philippines to engage in sex tourism. A Philippine Adventure Tour, for instance, costs $1,645 including RT airfare, hotel and guided tours to the bars where women are purchased for sex for as low as $24.


Neither the Philippine embassy and its consulates nor the US government has any adequate program to deal with the problem. US legislators of Philippine ancestry focus largely on whether the women should be called "mail-order brides," the agencies "mail-order bride agencies," or some other term which would effectively hide the fact that women are being sold.

"Stop the US-led War OF Terror"

   "22-year old Filipina gang-raped by US marines"   (still on website!)

Didn't "Nicole" already admit that it was mutual sex with one Marine in the back of a Starex van? His conviction was overturned in the appeals process, but Gabi can't accept his innocence! Last I heard "Nicole" married her American fiance, moved to the US, and is trying to get far away from these fem-Nazis whose only interest was to use her as m Anti-American propaganda tool!

"women's situationer on human rights violations"